Matthew Burton is the Director of the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) and Professor of Global Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. ICEH is an international team of clinicians, scientists, economists and public health specialists, focused on research, education and capacity strengthening for global eye health.

Matthew Burton is the Director of the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) and Professor of Global Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. ICEH is an international team of clinicians, scientists, economists and public health specialists, focused on research, education and capacity strengthening for global eye health. In 2026 ICEH became a WHO Collaborating Centre for Eye Care and Vision.

Professor Burton trained as an ophthalmologist and has worked in global eye health since 2000, when he joined ICEH. He was based in The Gambia (2001-2003), whilst doing his PhD on trachoma, and was later was based in Tanzania (2008-2012). His major research focus is on infectious causes of blindness, including trachoma and microbial keratitis, working closely with colleagues in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, The Gambia, Nepal and India.

He also works on cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, population-based surveys, global data and oculomics. He has led 20 international clinical trials and published 350 scientific publications on ophthalmology and eye health. Professor Burton was co-chair and lead author of the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health, published in 2021. He is an Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. In 2022 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science.